In a storage area network (SAN), a SAN management application monitors and manages manageable entities in the SAN. Each of the manageable entities is a component, or resource, deployed with other SAN components in a particular configuration. The manageable entities include storage arrays, connectivity devices, and hosts. The manageable entities, or SAN entities, interconnect via a fabric of physical connections for transporting data between the SAN entities. The fabric of interconnections therefore defines a SAN infrastructure operable to provide data storage and retrieval services to users. In a large SAN, the fabric of physical interconnections can be substantial.
In a typical SAN, physical devices and physical connections are typically superimposed by a logical definition of entities that provides flexibility, security and integrity to the data storage operations. For example, a shadow set or RAID volume may be defined to provide redundant storage on multiple physical drives viewed as a single device. Or, SANs may be subdivided by functions or groups to distinguish particular users and the data they may access. Such logical definitions include, for example, zoning, mapping and masking of various entities. The logical definitions impose additional selectivity on top of the physical connections to promote particular uses and efficiency in the SAN specific to a particular user, enterprise, or organization.
An operational SAN, therefore, defines a set of physical and logical connections, often referred to as a fabric. In the SAN, the physical and logical fabrics present maintenance and optimization issues. In a large SAN, identifying and categorizing each of the connections is a substantial task. Further, several logical fabrics are often defined within a physical fabric. Since a physical connection may represent and support multiple logical connections, diagnostic efforts may often result in a complex set of symptoms and cause/effect analysis. As a SAN grows, the underlying physical and logic fabric continues to expand in complexity and size.